Cui bono: how did Berrien County, Michigan hit the headlines?

Horse race reportage, part umpteen. Special Edition: Not Election Coverage

I first spotted this tragic news at BBC, when there wasn’t yet anything world newsworthy about it, even from their own coverage perspective. One might notice the author was in such a rush to post they didn’t even bother to finish writing it first. The telltale error of haste that reveals the race to the bottom should embarrass an author not yet qualified to have their own byline.

Rule 1 of race to the bottom reporting: Be sure to include factoids that do not advance the non-story even a little, and don’t bother to edit it when done.

“The shooting occurred is [sic] in the resort town of St Joseph – about 100 miles (160km) northeast of Chicago.”

Rule 2 of race to the bottom reporting: Categorize your non-story inappropriately. If you’re an unknown writer for the BBC, maybe put this under US and Election 2016. Where it has nothing to do with anything.

Now, to be fair, for the families and friends of two dead Michigan bailiffs, this is the only story that matters at all right now, and my heart goes out to them. May their loved ones rest in peace.

And were this an ideal world, every tragic death anywhere would be viral news, because people that people love dying is tremendous news. But this isn’t that world, and that’s not the context of this reportage.

There is indeed a story in the US that is getting attention world-wide for a host of reasons beyond this present analysis. You may have heard of it. A string of black deaths at the hands of cops over a period of [circle one] (decades /years/ months/ days/ all of the above). Inconvenient statistics for both sides. Protests. More statistics. Bad poster children for both sides. More protests. Whacko kills cops. Conflation of all issues by all sides. General clusterfuck. News at 11, but first, breaking news.

This story is not that story, but now it’s making the rounds like it is.

ABC News: Where they up the ante by not only mentioning Gov. Snyder, but also a GOP Congresstitute, who also demonstrates that it’s not just the Democrats that will convert coffins into bully pulpits for a convenient narrative. A tragic reminder, indeed.

Even the seemingly centrist Jerusalem Post picked up on this story, because why, exactly? Which side would they sympathize with, police or BLM? Well, which side do they take when Israeli soldiers are given carte blanche to shoot Palestinian stone throwers, could be stone-throwers, and would-be stone throwers? I don’t know. But one way or the other they have an interest in our tale. So what narrative do they advance by piggybacking this non-story onto the real McCoy? I don’t know.

Maybe there is something here we don’t know yet that would justify both ATF and FBI interest. Who was the shooter? Why was the shooter there?

O M G. Is there any connection to protests and BLM?

Well, where is Berrien County, Michigan? Oh. There. On the other side of the state from Detroit and Flint. Spitting distance away from one of the dullest places in the universe, South Bend, Indiana, unless you’re a Fightin’ Irish fan. And, as far as I can see, no damned where near any protests.

From the paucity of information provided, no connection can be made between this shooting and any other recent news. So of course that hasn’t stopped any of the so-called journalists reporting on this otherwise isolated and disconnected tragic event as though it could be, just by piggybacking it on other current events. It hasn’t stopped Michigan’s Asshat in Chief from making the same play. And, ephemeral as a non-existent bully pulpit can be, there it is, taking a pounding. Where’s Chuck Tingle when you need him?

All I see is a disconnected tale of tragedy peddled to shore up one particular narrative, because it’s the only narrative that makes sense in this non-context. Most alarmingly, if anything about this should actually be alarming, is that this is coming from MSM, so it’s the narrative the big money is peddling, not necessarily the left, not necessarily the right. It’s the Wall Street/military-industrial complex narrative. There’s an -ism it might make sense to call this unholy cabal, and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t start with s.

That’s the meta-story that tells us pretty much what we can expect, more than following the opposing outrages of left/pro-BLM versus right/anti-BLM. Big money is on the same kinds of coordinated collusion that took down Occupy, another leaderfull (not leaderless) movement with “no coherent narrative.”

Actually, it was in St. Joseph (white, prosperous), which is right across the river from Benton Harbor (black, looks like the set from The Omega Man.) But it’s been like that for a very long time so not quite sure how this matters. Might be the only shooting in quite a while?